This invention deals with passive restraint systems for human occupants of vehicles and to separable belt buckles that are useful in one embodiment, as a buckle for a safety harness that is commonly used in racing gear, such as automobile racing, for example.
The buckles are strong, reliable, and have a release mechanism that will allow the user to release all of the belts of the racing harness that are connected thereto, at the same time, and without undue effort. In other words, the buckles are separable by the use of one hand of the user, which is a requirement for safety harnesses used in racing.
Many such devices are described in the prior art and are of interest, namely, U.S. Pat. No. 1,158,827, that issued on Nov. 2, 1915 to Moricet; U.S. Pat. No. 1,303,652, that issued on May 13, 1919 to Girdler; U.S. Pat. No. 1,877,704, that issued on Sep. 13, 1932 to Switlik; U.S. Pat. No. 2,372,558, that issued on Mar. 27, 1945 to Dowd; U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,998 that issued on Jan. 21, 1975 to Schnurmacher; U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,570 that issued on Jan. 11, 1983 to Barbal; U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,700, that issued on Apr. 14, 1987 to Tanaka, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,044 that issued Apr. 26, 1994 to Tucker; U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,573, that issued on Nov. 10, 1998 to Howell; U.S. Pat. No. 6,390,562, that issued on May 21, 2002 to Takamizu, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,677, that issued on May 28, 2002 to Anscher; U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,925 that issued Jan. 20, 2004 to Howell; U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,466 that issued on Feb. 3, 2004 to Nishida et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,007 that issued on Sep. 28, 2004 to Anscher, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,782, that issued on Nov. 9, 2004 to Kintzi et al.
None of the patents of interest have the novel features of the passive restraint system or separable buckles of the instant invention.
The most pertinent art appears to be U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,306, that issued Jul. 11, 1978 to Matthews, et al. in which there is shown a separable buckle that is adapted to connect two separable belts. There is a first structural member in the form of a floating link that is typically secured permanently to one end of a first belt. A second structural member is adapted to be permanently secured to the end of the other belt.
Permanently attached to the second structural member is a lever that is pivotable about a control axis near the distal end of the second structural member. The control axis is preferably elevated above the plane defined by the remote ends of the two structural members as an aid to keeping the buckle closed. At an intermediate position along the lever there is provided an open-face cusp that is adapted to receive the distal end of the floating link. In latching the buckle, the lever is rotated to an extended position, and the distal end of the floating link is rested against the cusp. By rotating the lever through about 180° to a folded condition alongside the second structural member, the floating link is drawn toward the second structural member. By causing the lever to rotate “over-center”, the buckle becomes essentially self-latching. Also disclosed by this reference is means for securing auxiliary straps, such as shoulder straps, or leg straps, to the buckle when it is in a latched condition. A good illustration of how the buckle operates can be found in FIGS. 5A to 5C of that reference.
The buckle of the instant invention differs is several significant ways, for example, the lever has two hooked configurations that allows the lever to grasp the first structural member in two separate places. This allows for more secure buckling as will be detailed infra. Further, the buckle of this invention has a positive latch mechanism. Also, the buckle of the instant invention has a one digit, spring loaded, release mechanism that by-passes the problems associated with having to use two hands to release the buckle, especially when the used has to vacate a vehicle under emergency conditions.